


Please Remain Seated

by JustAPassingGlance



Series: In Flight Entertainment Trilogy [2]
Category: Glee
Genre: Alternate Universe, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-03-05
Updated: 2013-03-05
Packaged: 2018-02-25 15:55:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,405
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2627513
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JustAPassingGlance/pseuds/JustAPassingGlance
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Five years later, Blaine and Sebastian have a second chance encounter.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Please Remain Seated

In the last four years, Blaine Anderson had spent more time in suits than he ever imagined he would. Awards shows, dinners, photoshoots. You name it, is stylist had him in a suit. He was thankful for his Dalton education, because it meant always wearing a jacket and tie was basically second nature to him.

The suit he was in that night was, like many of his, from Hummel Designs. Early in both of their careers they struck up a mutually beneficial deal; Blaine would wear something of Hummel design to 25% of his appearances in exchange for publicity. (Much to both parties surprise, they ended up getting a little something more from the arrangement in the form of a kind-of relationship.)

Although this was not an official function, not for Blaine at least. He wasn’t even on the guest list and instead had come as film star Rachel Berry’s plus one. It was a last minute decision on his part. He was supposed to doing a show in Atlanta, but a basement fire caused the venue to cancel the show, giving him an unexpected two day break.

So he had hopped on the first available plane to get back to New York. Kurt was celebrating his 28th birthday that night and there was no way he would miss it now that he didn’t have another obligation.

Rachel’s date had been more than willing to give up his ticket. He and Rachel had been together on and off since high school and in the entertainment world he was a nobody. Needless to say, being dragged along to function after function wasn’t his favorite activity.

Often Blaine looked at the two of them and wished that his own relationship was that simple. His, however, fluctuated between being really serious and the specific type of casual that could only be borne from a couple desperate to keep their relationship under wraps with the added stress of one half of the pair almost constantly being on the road and the other half frequently jetting off to France and Italy at a moment’s notice.

Kurt called their relationship a personal and private matter that was nobody’s business but their own. Blaine called it a secret. And by secret he really meant secret. He could count on one hand the number of people who knew about it. And while he respected Kurt’s reluctance to tell anyone else, after months of nothing but Skype calls he couldn’t help but be frustrated by it.

Even that night they would barely talk to each other. A couple of polite words exchanged as they passed each other, more if Rachel was with him because she was friends with both of them. And the rest of the night pretending that they barely knew each other outside of the handful of times they worked together. (Of course that would all change after. Once everyone had gone and Blaine had snuck into Kurt’s apartment and they could be  _them_  again.)

When it came to Blaine’s sexuality the media didn’t really know what to think. Early on in his career he had come out to some indie magazine, despite the protestation of his manager. Since then his sex/love life wasn’t something he liked to discuss. First because there hadn’t been anything to say and more recently at Kurt’s behest.

The tabloids responded by pairing him off with pretty much every single person (male or female) that he came in contact with. If he smiled too wide at a store clerk it clearly meant they were secretly in love. The funniest rumor had been a two page spread about his illicit rendezvous with Taylor Lautner. His brother, Cooper, had that framed and had it hanging in his downstairs bathroom.

Most commonly people seemed convinced that he and Rachel were actually a couple. Although they didn’t ever actively do anything to confirm these rumors, they never went out of their way to deny them either.

If questioned specifically, Blaine always spoke of his ideal person in masculine terms and replied that Rachel Berry was a very close friend whom he loved dearly. For her part Rachel adamantly assured the press hounds that her relationship was still going strong and that Blaine Anderson was the only person in her life who would join in when she started singing at 7 in the morning instead of trying to strangle her.

It was a comfortable relationship and as long as the paparazzi were so frantic to fabricate their romance, they wouldn’t think twice about the few times he and Kurt had been spotted together. Him showing upon her arm, unannounced, had sparked such a frenzy that he and Kurt could probably go skipping up the hall holding hands and no one would notice.

“I really should have just come in the back,” he groaned once they finally made it through the media gauntlet.

“You did create quite the stir, Mr. Anderson.”

Affixing his most affable smile to his lips, he turned to see who had addressed him.

Quinn Fabray was not someone that anyone eagerly admitted to knowing, but should you find yourself in the midst of a scandal that required legal counsel, she was rapidly establishing herself as the person to know. New York was divided in their opinion of her, either actively courting her favor or openly despising her. If the devilish smirk she tended to wear was anything to go by it was a position she was more than happy to be in.

He shrugged easily as he tried to gauge whether she was digging for something or just being friendly. “It’s nice to come home, even if it’s only for a day or two.”

“I’m gone for a week and I miss it,” she agreed with the daintiest laugh he had ever heard. “I don’t know how you do it.”

His smile stretched into a more genuine grin. It was a sentiment he could easily relate to. As much as he loved seeing the world, no where could ever compare to New York. It was becoming harder to leave it time and time again.

“Oh!” He exclaimed, reaching behind him and tugging Rachel forward. “Do you know Rachel?”

“I believe we’ve seen each other around,” Rachel replied, begrudgingly offering out her hand. Blaine made a mental note to find out what that was all about later.

“And who here hasn’t heard of Rachel Berry?” Whereas Rachel’s greeting was forced and cold, Quinn’s was infused with false warmth and sweetness.

“So,” Blaine eagerly clapped his hands together and sought to bring the conversation back to a safer, more neutral ground, “have you heard about Hummel Designs’ new line?”

They spent the next several minutes engaged in small talk until Rachel grimaced out a smile and said, “We really should try and find Kurt, don’t you think? It’s such a shame we haven’t seen him yet and he  _is_  the man of the hour.”

“When I saw him he was over by the bar. And his outfit is absolutely stunning. Really some of his best work, I would say.” Quinn shot a last smug smile at Rachel before pressing a kiss to Blaine’s cheek and saying, “Maybe I’ll see you around. Now if you’ll excuse me, I have to go find my date. He’s probably drowned himself in champagne by now.”

“What was that about?” Blaine asked as Rachel practically dragged him to the opposite side of the room.

“Like you don’t want to see Kurt more than I do,” was the only reply Rachel was willing to offer.

Obviously, Blaine did want to see him but not at the expense of being rude to a perfectly nice woman. And by this point in the evening it would be almost impossible to locate the guest of honor, much less be able to talk to him. Why Kurt opted to throw such lavish parties was always something of a mystery to Blaine, because he tended to disappear for the majority of them; typically to some secluded back room where he got in as much sketching as he could before his absence was noticed.

True to form, after two hours they still hadn’t found him, although everyone seemed to have just seen him in some remote corner somewhere. At Rachel’s insistence he had secured them a table while she went and got them drinks; her drinks taste was much more specific than his and he could never quite remember everything she asked for.

“Hello, stranger,” Quinn teased, sinking into the empty chair next to Blaine. She was a lot more tipsy than she had been when they last talked. “Enjoying the party?”

“Very much. And did you find your date?”

“Several times over. Apparently there’s a game on tonight.” She rolled her eyes and Blaine pretended to nod in sympathy, although he was very well aware that there was a game tonight and had been dying to check his phone for scores for the last hour. “Speak of the devil…” Despite her words, Quinn’s face lit up as she made eye contact with someone behind Blaine.

A minute later Blaine’s shoulders tensed at the sensation of someone standing over him. Quickly he turned around to greet the newcomer, immediately freezing because there was something very familiar about him.

“Bas, this is Blaine Anderson. Blaine, Sebastian Smythe.”

“Pleasure,” Sebastian held out his hand with a warm smile.

Blaine’s heart thudded in his chest. Sebastian didn’t look exactly as Blaine remembered him, but close enough that it had to be the same person. A person that Blaine more than once dreamed of and wrote the occasional song about. That random stranger from over five years ago now who somehow always lurked at the back of his mind, just a foolish fantasy when he was tired of being alone. That one day he’d walk onto another plane and that green eyed man would just be sitting there, smirking and, most importantly, waiting for him.

Reality was a little different. For one thing, Sebastian didn’t seem to remember Blaine at all.

“It’s very nice to meet you. What do you do for a living? I haven’t seen you at an event like this before,” asked Blaine politely, hoping the disappointment he was feeling wasn’t seeping through.

“I’m an attorney,” he smoothly replied, smile growing more smug. “And you’re in entertainment?”

“A musician,” Blaine smiled tightly. He wasn’t used to people having no idea who he was, even if they didn’t personally listen to his music his face was plastered on enough billboards and his name cropped up in the media enough that people generally had a vague idea.

“He’s just being an ass,” Quinn chastised, glaring up at Sebastian. “He’s dragged me to at least three of your concerts.”

“Really?” Blaine hardly dared to glance over at the other man because he already had enough butterflies in his stomach from this sudden turn of events.

Quinn nodded eagerly, clearly pleased at the chance to put Sebastian in his place. “He bribed about half the office to change a meeting so he could go to your first show. And he bought tickets to the one at The Garden within ten minutes of their going on sale.”

“I promised you a fantastic evening out.” Sebastian bowed his head magnanimously. “And Smythe’s are nothing if not men of their words.” 

“No they aren’t. I don’t think your father has ever said an honest thing to me.” Quinn didn’t seem to insulted by Mr. Smythe’s dishonesty, if anything she seemed to think that it was just some eccentric quirk of his.

“At the winter gala he said you looked beautiful. That certainly wasn’t a lie.”Sebastian smiled charmingly at her and Blaine’s stomach definitely didn’t twist with envy. Twinged, maybe. And only a little at that.

Quinn smiled back with equal affection, eyelashes aflutter, as she sweetly replied, “He wanted to sleep with me.”

“You can hardly blame him. You did look stunning that night.”

Shifting uncomfortably in his seat, Blaine wracked his brain for some reason to excuse himself; any feeling of delight at seeing Sebastian again disappearing with every comment that passed between the other man and his girlfriend. (Not fiancée. Not that Blaine had pointedly looked at her left hand for confirmation.)

“I’m sorry,” Quinn turned her attention back to him. “We’re being incredibly rude. If you don’t mind, I see a  _friend_  over there,” she waved ambiguously at an area that encompassed half the room. “Behave yourself,” she commanded Sebastian before sweeping away. 

“I hope someone has the sense to keep her away from the vodka. I won’t even tell you what happened at the office Christmas party. But it almost got us both fired.” Without asking, Sebastian slid into the newly unoccupied seat next to Blaine and focused his full attention on him.

A minute ago, Blaine had wanted that attention. But now that he had it, he wasn’t sure what to do with it. “She seems nice,” he said, licking at his lips.

“’Lovely’, seems to be the favored word. Until you piss her off. Not even the witness protection program would keep you safe.”

“I’ll be sure to stay on her good side.” He picked up his mostly empty glass and swirled the ice around in it. His alcohol tolerance had never been that impressive and he had already had more to drink than he normally did. “So you two met in law school?” Finding out their history was really the last thing he wanted to do, but Sebastian certainly seemed eager to talk about her.

“Mmm?” He asked in the middle of a long sip of whatever amber liquid he was nursing. “No. We met when she interned at the firm. She hated it,” he laughed fondly at a memory Blaine couldn’t share. “Everyone was surprised she lasted all nine months. I think she’s the only intern my father has ever written a recommendation for an not used the word incompetent.”

“And… how long have you been together?” The minute it was out of his mouth he regretted asking it. Especially when Sebastian choked on his drink.

“We’re not together,” he said through his laughter. “She really isn’t my type.” He winked.

Blaine could feel himself turning scarlet.

Somewhere it was decided that the nice, social part of the evening had concluded and the music took on a distinctly more pop-y feel as it was turned up.

“Enough about me.” Sebastian leaned closer and was staring at Blaine like he was the single most interesting person in the world. “Your life is much more exciting than mine.”  

There were, of course, hundreds of stock stories at the ready. Ones he had told over and over again in interviews, never ceasing to be surprised that people still wanted to hear them. He couldn’t imagine there was anyone in the world who had at least a passing interest in him who didn’t know about the time the tour bus broke down, or when he fractured his foot right before going on and ignored it for the whole night. But suddenly none of them seemed funny enough or interesting enough.

“Not much to tell. Apparently you’ve been following my career,” he shrugged.

“Quinn has a penchant for exaggeration. That meeting had already been rescheduled and I didn’t even know about the Garden concert until the day after the tickets went on sale.”

“But you were there?” He had meant for it to be a teasing statement, but somehow it came out unsteady and unsure.

Sebastian took another sip of his drink and stared critically at the decreasing level before saying, “You put on quite a show.” He drained the last of it before pushing the empty glass across the table. In one smooth motion he was getting to his feet and offering his hand out to Blaine.

“Where are we going?” Blaine asked, eyebrows arched. Trying not to focus too hard on the way that Sebastian’s fingers curled around his, he stumbled along after him towards the make-shift dance floor. Although he didn’t protest he did navigate them towards a shadowy corner. So Sebastian (or anyone watching) wouldn’t get the wrong idea, he made sure to keep a more than respectable distance between then.

Dancing was, actually, one of his favorite things. It was never something he had considered doing professionally, for one thing he didn’t have the talent. But in college he had been exceptionally popular with the girls in his dorm because he would spend the entire night dancing with them.

It only took half a song for Sebastian to catch on and after he stopped trying to encroach on his space he proved to be a very good dance partner- he clearly had some sort of background in it. They spent several songs spinning in tandem around each other, making up silly little routines and laughing as they tripped over their own feet.

“So kind of our host to grace us with his presence.”

Blaine almost gave himself whiplash as he turned to look for him. Sure enough, Kurt was standing on the other side of the room surrounded by at least thirty people all clamoring to talk to him, one of whom was Rachel. He watched as she leaned in to whisper something in his ear. Kurt’s mouth dropped open in surprise and he looked around the room until his eyes locked with Blaine’s.

The moment lasted for less than a second before the crowd surged around Kurt and swallowed him from sight.

To make everything even better for Blaine, the room was soon filled with a very familiar beat. He cringed as he recognized the song- a brain child of his manager in his early days when they were desperately trying to expand his fan base. It was a collaboration between him and then pop icon KiKi who had since faded into the obscurity of her drug habit.

“Not this song,” he groaned, his head dropping down in embarrassment.

“Not your greatest.”

“Hey!” It was the truth, but it still stung a little to hear Sebastian say it.

“I do really like that one song of yours. Oh, what’s its called?” Sebastian said by way of apology, biting his lip in teasing contemplation as his body swayed in a hypnotic rhythm.  

“Second Chance Meeting?” Blaine rolled his eyes. It was a song off his second album and was the one that rather embarrassingly documented exactly how much time Blaine spent thinking about Sebastian after their meeting.

Sebastian was suddenly much closer than he was before and too close for Blaine to be able to see, but he could have sworn that he heard a satisfied smirk in his voice. “I was going to say 20 Minutes Til Dawn. Whatever would make you thing I’d like that one?”

“I-it’s just very popular. You know, in general.” It wasn’t really, not compared to some of his other songs. It certainly wasn’t a constant on set-lists but he’d play it every once in a while when the mood struck him.

Had he known that he was ever going to see Sebastian again, he probably would have refrained from spending half a verse waxing lyrical about his eyes. Not only because it was, frankly, a bit embarrassing but also because, the more he stared into them, the more obvious it was that he hadn’t done them justice. 

Really, he just should have left any description of them out all together, because there weren’t words to describe them, he decided. The way the gleam of amusement twisted itself through something sharp and dark. The reflection of a deep understand of all the secrets the world had ever tried to keep. All in a swirling sea of indescribable greens and greys and just a hint of gold and—

“I need some water.” Blaine jerked himself away and made for the bar without looking back and not caring if his dance partner was following. In fact, he would have preferred if he wasn’t. Not that he didn’t like the other man because he did. A lot. And therein, of course, lay the problem.

It was one thing to be in a relationship and still, occasionally, fantasize about a random stranger he had met years ago. It was another thing altogether to spend the evening dancing with him ad thinking about what it might be like to kiss him at his boyfriend’s birthday party.

Even if he had barely seen Kurt all night.

“You could’ve told me you were seeing someone.”

Starting at the proximity of the voice, Blaine managed to slop half his glass of water down his front. Curing under his breath he turned to face Sebastian. “What?” He asked casually, trying to sound as nonchalant as possible.

“Who is he?” Shuffling closer, Sebastian peered around the room, undoubtedly seeking out a face suddenly clouded by jealousy.

“What?” He repeated, this time stupidly as he squirmed further away. Nervously looking around the crowded room until he spotted Kurt again who was now deeply engaged in a conversation with two rather busty blondes.

Apparently Sebastian had followed his gaze because a moment later he was letting out a surprised chuckle. “Hummel?” He drawled. “Really?”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” snapped Blaine. He wasn’t sure if the anger coursing through him was directed at Sebastian or himself. For three years he had kept that a secret and in the space of two seconds it had come spilling out to a man he had no reason to trust.

“Apologies,” Sebastian said not sounding even remotely sorry. “So if you aren’t seeing anyone does that mean it’s okay for me to do this?”

Everyone within a twenty foot radius turned to look at them as Blaine let out a yelp when Sebastian’s hand slipped into his back pocket.

“No. No. No, it’s really not.” Frantically he shook his head and backed up so he was flush against the bar.

“What about this then?” Sebastian asked, taking advantage of Blaine’s relocation to cage him in and slid a leg between the shorter man’s thighs.

Breathlessly, Blaine replied, “You definitely can’t do that.”

“No?” He rolled his hips suggestively.

“You really, really can’t.” In his semi-intoxicated state it was becoming extremely difficult to not press back into Sebastian’s inviting warmth.

“Oh.” Sebastian pulled away. “Well then,” he purred, “give me a call when you can.” Without so much as a glance backwards he sauntered off into the crowd.

Suddenly, Blaine felt very much alone.

After ten minutes of searching he found Rachel who was schmoozing up to a director in a way she probably wouldn’t be if her boyfriend had been there. After another couple of minutes he heard her excuse herself before she made her way over to him.

“I think I’m going to call it a night,” he told her, suddenly feeling too tired to spend the next several hours standing around making small talk. He had played a late show the night before and was up early for a series of interviews to hint at the release of a new album within the foreseeable future as well promoting his upcoming international tour.

“Alone?” asked Rachel, her eyes narrowed suspiciously.  

“Unless you’d like to join me?” Came his cautious reply. “I was going to sneak over to Kurt’s and crash there.” He dropped his voice in case anyone was listening to them.  

“No! I’m fine here.” She looked guilty and apologetic. “I saw you with that guy… You looked very cozy.”

If they looked anywhere near as cozy as Rachel’s tone was implying, he was surprised she hadn’t taken it upon herself to break them apart before. She always had been desperately dramatic and over protective of Kurt “He’s an old friend. We met in college,” he half lied. “He came as Quinn Fabray’s plus one. This isn’t really his scene.”

Rachel made a strangled noise of disgust, “You’re friends with someone dating  _her_?”

“They’re not dating?” As though that might make it better.

“And there’s nothing between the two of you?”

“That’s the first time I’ve talked to him in years!” he said defensively.

“Okay. Okay,” Rachel held up her hands. “You just seemed-”

“Tell Kurt he can wake me up when he gets home,” interrupted Blaine.

She obviously wasn’t done with the conversation, but even she could tell it was a lost cause to continue it at the moment. “Fine,” she huffed. Tilting her head up, she pressed a kiss to Blaine’s cheek. “Call me when you’re in town next?”

“Sure,” he smiled tightly and hugged her. “We’ll get dinner. I still haven’t been to that new Italian restaurant on 3rd.”

“It’s a date.”

Kurt was across the room and Blaine chanced a small smile and a wave in his direction as he weaved through the crowd, his heart lightening when he got a nod in return.

As it turned out he wasn’t the only person who had decided to call it a night because there was a bit of a line to get his coat from the coat check. When he got to the front of the line he pulled the reclaim stub from his back pocket and handed it over to the attendant.

“Sorry, sir, but this isn’t your ticket,” he was politely informed.

“Oh. I’m so sorry!” Frantically, he searched through his pockets until he found the stub and passed it over, making sure to take out extra money for a tip. While the attendant was looking for his coat he examined the not-a-ticket he had tried to use.

It was a business card.

“Here you go.” The attendant was back. Not wanting to seem rude, he shoved the card back into his pocket and took the coat. “Have a good night, sir.”

“And you.” He slipped his coat on and hurried outside, bracing himself against the chilly night air and the wall of paparazzi. He smiled and waved as he waited for a car. When one finally came around, he directed it to a street a few blocks from Kurt’s apartment before sinking back into his seat and, once again, taking out the card.

He held it up so it could catch the flickering lights of the city as they drove.  **Sebastian Smythe, Attorney** , it read. Smiling, he ran his fingers over the embossed lettering before adding the number to his phone. 


End file.
